Archive for May, 2015

Our cutie pie turned one!! Before I give you all the details of the birthday festivities, here’s his last weekly pic.

And in crazy mom-stalker fashion, the last pic before the big day.

Ok, on to the birthday. We kicked off the morning with balloons in bed, of course! He spent about ten minutes throwing them in the air and making them pop out of his crib.

He spent a little time at our sitter’s playing with friends while I took Beckett to therapy, then we ran some last-minute birthday errands and snuggled for the rest of the afternoon.

After Addie came home from dance class, Auntie and Gram joined us for pizza. Coen ate the entire time. Pesto knots, fruit puffs, an entire bottle of milk. Then came home and ended the night with a giant slice of cake.

Today, we had some of our favorite friends and family over to celebrate at Coen’s county fair!

I had planned to have the party outside but Mother Nature had other plans, so in we stayed. Games were set up downstairs, fair food upstairs, jumpy house in the garage. Not exactly what I envisioned but I don’t think the birthday boy cared much. I’m pretty terrible about taking pictures of the action at my kids’ birthdays, but the decor sure looked good 🙂

Coen’s favorite part of the party…food.

He barely touched his cake though. None of my kids have loved their first birthday cakes. But still, I think overall it was a success. And now he’s eating again, so really, all is right in his world!

It sure has been a fun and exciting year with this darling boy. He’s truly a blessing! We’re so lucky we get to be his parents!! Happy birthday, little love!

Can you believe Jimmy and I have been married for 10 years? How has it been that long? We must be old! I had big plans for our 10th anny. I think our table postcards from our wedding said we’d be in Italy. If only we didn’t have three babes 4 and under! Maybe we’ll plan an overseas adventure for our 20th. But for now, we thought close to home and delicious food would have to do.

We spent 3.5 days eating our way through this beautiful green city. We spent most days venturing outside the city, touring the tulip farm, wine tasting, sightseeing on the coast, and hiking the gorgeous waterfalls.

In the midst of all this adventure, we ate. A lot. I think I gained 5 pounds in 3 days. No joke. We had three of the best breakfasts including sinful donuts at Blue Star, amazing sushi, delicious tapas, and the best ice cream I’ve ever had in my life. Salt & Straw’s pear and blue cheese is my new obsession. If I lived in Portland, I’d easily double my weight from eating ice cream.

Though it was a quick trip, it was a perfect way to celebrate 10 crazy and wonderful years!

Let’s take a break from Coen updates and talk about this little beauty for just a second. She sure keeps us busy! Here’s a glimpse at a typical week:

Monday: dance with Miss Anna at school

Tuesday: swim lessons

Wednesday: tumblebus at school

Thursday: kidscape at school (this ended a couple weeks ago!!)

Friday: dance at the studio

Saturday: gymnastics

Sunday: church and Sunday school

All this is at her request. And she wants to do karate, soccer, and Spanish club. There are not enough days in the week. She loves it all though and won’t drop anything. Even swim lessons, which are not going well. Every Tuesday, it’s a negotionation (and trip to Starbucks) to get her there. She has about 15 good minutes then spends the remaining 15 in and out of the pool crying. I have to use serious persuasion to get her back in and by the end of most classes, she’s smiling again. She loves it, but gets scared. We decided to finish out the month at our current place and starting in June, she’s going to try lessons from this lady who does it from her home. I’m praying it goes better!

She’s also had a a bunch of birthday parties lately. I think we’re in the final push to get them all in before school is out. It’s funny to see how the same group of kids interacts now versus the beginning of the school year. There’s more of a divide between the girls and the boys. Addie certainly gravitates to her favorites.

She’s also become quite the artist since the beginning of the year. She’s always loved coloring but wasn’t great at drawing. Before she started school, she would only draw lines and circles. When Jimmy and I were gone a few weeks ago, she drew this family portrait. Complete with Jett, Cooper and Lola!

Then, this week at school, she drew us eating lollipops.

That’s Addie and me! Couldn’t you tell? We’re pretty cute!

So, that’s all I have to say about the darling Addie for now. I’m long overdue for a Beckett post and have lots of beautiful pics from our grown-up vacation to share. Maybe next week if I can find time between first-birthday errands and packing!

Well, this blog has certainly turned into the Coen chronicles lately. I promise we still have two other children. We’ve just been crazy busy the last few weeks. Coen’s posts are the easy ones though, and we’re so close to the big o-n-e! If nothing else, I can at least keep you updated on this growing cutie!

This week, we finally have teeth!! Two to be exact with at least 4 more on their way. His two bottom ones popped through over the weekend and the top four are right under his gums. Any day now we’ll have a mouth full! It’s a good thing too, this boy wants to eat everything in sight. Once these teeth are in, we can start trying more things and maybe he’ll learn to take bites instead of shoving whole cookies in his mouth.

Look at that face! He wanted nothing to do with this week’s picture. He spent the weekend with Gram and Gramps so we could have a “grown up vacation” for our 10th anny (more on that later). Monday night, we came home and got right back into our normal routine. Tuesday morning, Coen decides he only wants a bottle. No more nursing. Uh, ok. I guess we’re going to whole milk a little sooner than I anticipated. On the bright side, mornings have certainly been easier now that he feeds himself!